The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-06-18
4 MAN WITHOUT A JAW.
Wounded with Poisoned Spear i'm an
African JungIe-skiIlfuI Surgery.
New York Herald.


New York Herald.
A man without jaw is Michael Cas-
telar. who was recently admitted as a
patient to Roosevelt Hospital.
He Is Spaniard. about fifty years old,
and has spent much of his time at sea.
Three years ago tEe bark ON which he
was acting mate was driven ashore on
the coast of Africa IN a hurricane.
Three sailors besides CASTELAR, were the
only ones who survived the shipwreck
and one of the sailors fortu-
natelv had been a member of an eNpedi-
tion that had gone into the interior sew
eral years before in search of ivory and
was familiar with the country and the
habits of the natives. To get TO the
nearest civilized sci lement required a
journey of about seven hundred miles
through thick jungles and miasmatic
lowlands and over lofty mountains. The
four started on the wearisome march.
At the end of a month two of the sailors
died of fever. and after their bodies had
been decently buried the survivors
pressed onward To the place of safety.
FEARFUL WOUND.
There were plenty of food in the wild
growing vegetation, birds nest and small
game. and much danger from the wild
beasts and ferocious natives. The two
ever il was possible, but on several occa-
sions there were hand to hand conflicts
and the travellers had many wound to
testify To to the agility of the native
born citizens. On one occasion CASTELAR,.
while lighting with "A native, was struck
in the face 10y a long spear-like weapon,
the point of which was driven through
both cheeks. Castelar, grabbed the weap-
ON and with a dexterious thrust sent it
l. a
the thing with him afterward. Some
leaves that the sailor gathered checked
the hemorrhage fro n the severe wound
and when they got to the settlement,
about ten days later, the wound seemed
to be healing well.
CASTELAR, was SO completely run down
that he was advised to take sea voy-
age, and when a tramp steamer came
into port he shipped ON her, bound for
China and thence To this city. Through
out the long voyage CASTELAR, did not
have moments peace. The motion of
the vessel seemed to aggravate the pain
in his Jaws, and on the tri p from China
here he would have been turned over to
the fishes if the captain had not been un-
usually mild for his calling. The day of
his arrival he was removed to Roosevelt
Hospital, and his case was carefully
studied in the light of the history of the
injury.
An English surgeon was visited. and to
save Disagreement from the imperfect
healing he reopened the wound and
sewed it up in the regular way. But the
wound did not heal as readily as had
been anticipated, and the flesh sloughed
away in surprising manner. CASTELAR,
10 / flesh and became exceedingly weak,
and in time his skin became "A dark cop
per coloc. Then the surgeon, on exam
ming the weapon with which the wound
was made, found that it was the travJah
or poisonous spea The head of the
spear il dipped in vegetable poison
known only to the natives. which,
though it acts slowly, is believed by
them to produce certain death. An
andidote was given and had the effect of
improving the patients condition and
rendering the skin natural color. The
external wound in the cheek closed, but
there was constant soreness and twlnges
Of PAIN in both jaws.
WONDERFUL OPERATION.
From the symtoms and the gradual
decline in the patients health the con-
clusion was reached by DIR. Spencer that
the patient had cancerous tumor in
volving both jaws. As to how far the
condition of the jaws was due to the in
occulation from the poison was a matter
OF uOuDt. some OF Ine consulting pny-
sicians held that il had Eothing to do
with it. But il was decided that extir-
patton of the Jaw was necessary. The
patient was taken to the operating room
the day after his admission to the hos
pitaI ander the influence of either, and
the operation was successfully and skill
fully performed. What was left did not
look much like fl =.
The wound has now nearly healed,
the patient is recovering strength, but
his face is as flat as "A pancake. An at
tempt will be made as soon as the ten
derness is gone to put in an artificial
rubber jaw to give the face a natural APP
pearance. If the patient can get used to
the inconvenience there will not be much
deformity left in the contour, though, of
course. the scars will show something of
what he has gone through. Whether
there will be a permanent cure cannot
be told for a year.